Haunted hotel guide · Toronto, Ontario

The Haunted Fairmont Royal York: Toronto's Eighth-Floor Ghost

When it opened in 1929 the Royal York was the tallest building in the British Empire. Nearly a century and tens of millions of guests later, a few of them are said to have stayed on.

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate hotels

3.5/5Haunted Rooms Score
1929Year opened
8th floorMost reported ghost

Check availabilityMeet the ghosts

The Fairmont Royal York is Toronto’s grand old railway hotel, a limestone chateau across Front Street from Union Station with more than 1,300 rooms. Queen Elizabeth II made it her Toronto home on royal tours, and the guest list runs from Ronald Reagan to the Dalai Lama. It also has a quieter reputation as one of the most haunted hotels in the city.

The stories center on a gray-haired man who walks the eighth floor at night, a closed upper-floor ballroom where guests below hear a party that is not happening, and an elevator that likes to stop where nobody asked it to. The hotel does not promote any of this, and there are no records behind the darker legends, so we set out the stories as they are told and the real history of the building alongside them.

Royal York at a glance

3.5/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation4
History5
Ghost hunter access1
$$$ · Over $300
  • Address 100 Front Street West, Toronto, ON M5J 1E3, Canada
  • Opened June 11, 1929, by the Canadian Pacific Railway
  • Most haunted spots The eighth-floor hallways, the closed upper-floor ballroom and the elevator stop below it, a staircase toward the roof
  • Best-known ghosts A gray-haired man in a dark jacket, phantom partygoers, laughing children
  • Booking the haunted room No named room can be booked; ask for a room on the eighth floor
  • Good to know Over 1,300 rooms; linked to Union Station by an underground tunnel; managed by Fairmont

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The ghosts of Fairmont Royal York

The gray-haired man on the eighth floor

The Royal York’s best-known ghost is an older man with gray hair, usually described in a dark jacket, though one widely shared account gives him a purple waistcoat or smoking jacket. He is seen walking the eighth-floor hallways late at night and disappearing when anyone approaches.

In one story told to a Toronto news site, a guest heard children running in the corridor outside their room, looked through the peephole and saw no children at all, only a gray-haired man in a purple waistcoat standing in the hall.

There are two very different explanations. The commonly told one is that he was a member of staff who took his own life on a stairway, in some versions leading to the roof and in others from a stairwell railing high in the building. A darker legend says he was a groom who killed his bride on their honeymoon night and then himself, and that the bride lingers in their room as a light or an opening door. We have found no record of either event.

The ballroom party that never ends

Guests staying on the floor below a long-closed upper ballroom have complained to the front desk about music, laughter and the sound of a crowd overhead late at night, only to be told the room has been shut for years. Ghost writers usually call it the Crystal Ballroom.

The name causes some confusion. Toronto’s best-known Crystal Ballroom is at the Omni King Edward Hotel on King Street, which has ghost stories of its own, including a chandelier that is said to tremble. A BlogTO writer filming on an upper floor of the Royal York in 2006 reported chandeliers shaking above her and a camera that kept shutting off, and was told the floor above had been closed for years. Whatever the room is called, the story is the same: a party in an empty space.

The elevator that stops by itself

The hotel’s elevators are said to travel to the old ballroom floor when no one has pressed the button, with the doors opening onto an empty landing. Others report doors opening and closing on upper floors without being called. In a building this size there are plenty of ordinary explanations, but it is one of the most repeated stories.

Children in empty corridors

Guests have reported children laughing and running in the halls at night, and stepping out to find the corridor empty. The children are often described alongside the gray-haired man, as in the peephole story above.

Construction crews and cold spots

During renovation work, crews have joked that a ghost was behind their equipment problems, describing electrical fluctuations, sudden cold spots and gusts of air in closed-off areas. These are workplace stories rather than documented events, but they come up whenever the Royal York’s ghosts are discussed.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • The eighth floor: Where the gray-haired man is most often seen. Ask for a room on this floor when you book; requests are not guaranteed in a hotel this size.
  • The floor below the old ballroom: Where guests report music and voices overhead. The hotel does not identify a floor for this story, so this one is for exploring rather than booking.
  • The elevators: Ride them late at night and see if one stops by itself.
  • The lobby and Library Bar: No ghost stories, but the hand-carved 1929 lobby ceiling and the bar are the best places to feel the hotel’s age.

History of Fairmont Royal York

The site at Front and York streets has held a hotel since 1843, when a row of brick houses became the Ontario Terrace. It was later Sword’s Hotel, then the Revere, and from 1862 the Queen’s Hotel, one of Toronto’s best addresses for over sixty years. The Canadian Pacific Railway bought it in the mid-1920s and tore it down to build something far larger.

Construction started in 1927 and cost about $16 million. The Royal York, designed by Ross and Macdonald with Sproatt and Rolph, has a 28-story steel frame clad in Indiana limestone, in the chateau style of Canada’s great railway hotels with Art Deco setbacks. The Governor General, Lord Willingdon, opened it on June 11, 1929, and more than 2,300 people attended the opening ball. A tunnel under Front Street linked it to Union Station from the start.

For a short time it was the tallest building in Canada and in the British Empire, until the Canadian Bank of Commerce tower overtook it about a year later. It opened with 1,048 rooms, Canada’s largest hotel kitchen, a 14th-floor roof garden and a concert hall with what was then the largest pipe organ in Canada. An east wing added in 1957 to 1959 took it past 1,300 rooms.

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited in 1939, and Queen Elizabeth II stayed regularly from 1951, using the Royal Suite as her Toronto residence. The Imperial Room was one of the city’s top nightclubs from the 1940s to the 1990s. The hotel became the Fairmont Royal York in 2001, and it has been through several major restorations since, most recently after a 2014 change of ownership.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Request a room on the eighth floor when booking, and repeat the request at check-in.
  • Take a late-night elevator ride and watch whether any car stops on a floor nobody chose.
  • Have a drink in the Library Bar or afternoon tea there to see the 1929 interiors at their best.
  • If you are coming by train, you can walk from Union Station to the lobby through the underground tunnel without going outside.
  • Ask staff about the hotel’s history rather than its ghosts. The Royal York does not market its hauntings, but staff are proud of its past.

Want to investigate, not just sleep?

Sleeping in a haunted hotel is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through the building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and lets you explore on your own during free roam.

See all New York ghost hunts

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Frequently asked questions

Is the Fairmont Royal York haunted?

It has a long reputation as one of Toronto’s most haunted hotels. Guests report a gray-haired man on the eighth floor, music from a closed ballroom and an elevator that stops by itself. The hotel does not promote these stories, and no records back the darker legends.

Who is the ghost on the eighth floor of the Royal York?

Nobody knows. One story says he was a staff member who took his own life on a stairway; another says he was a groom who killed his bride on their honeymoon. Neither event has been found in records.

Is there a Crystal Ballroom at the Royal York?

Ghost writers describe a long-closed upper-floor ballroom at the Royal York, often calling it the Crystal Ballroom. Toronto’s best-known Crystal Ballroom is actually at the Omni King Edward Hotel, so the name is often mixed up.

When was the Royal York built?

Construction began in 1927 and the hotel opened on June 11, 1929, on the site of the old Queen’s Hotel. It was briefly the tallest building in the British Empire.

Did Queen Elizabeth II stay at the Royal York?

Yes. She first visited in 1951 and used the hotel’s Royal Suite as her Toronto residence on many later visits.

Can you request a haunted room at the Royal York?

There is no named haunted room to book. Ask for a room on the eighth floor, where most sightings are reported.

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

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About the authors

The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.

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